Tree calf, marked A in ink on the outside. On the last page, in the handwriting of Sir John Randolph is written in ink:

The first Laws made by the

Assembly in Virg a. Anno

M DC xxiij

Under this Jefferson has written: This was found among the manuscript papers of S ^r. John Randolph and by the Hoñble Peyton Randolph esq. his son was given to Tho ^s. Jefferson.

Jefferson’s description of this manuscript in his list sent to George Wythe on January 12, 1796, is as follows: “ M. S. marked A. given me by the late Peyton Randolph. it had belonged to his father S ^r. John Randolph, who had collected papers with a view to write the history of Virginia. it is attested by R. Hickman, & contains the acts of 1623/4 Mar. 5. 35 acts. ”

This manuscript was the first on Jefferson’s list of those he sent to Hening on June 7, 1808. It is omitted from the list of those received by Jefferson from Hening in 1815 on his request for their return after the sale to the Library of Congress.

On April 8, 1815 Jefferson wrote to Hening acknowledging the receipt of a number of volumes, but pointed out that two were missing: “ . . . Besides there remain two others of those I lent you which I have no doubt you have overlooked in the mass of those you have, or not recollected from whom they came. these are a MS. marked A. containing the laws of 1623/4. Mar. 5. in 35. acts. it is a very thin vol. indeed, bound new in white calf opening at the end, and not at the side of the volume, given me by Peyton Randolph from among the Collection of materials by S ^r. John Randolph when about to write the history of Virginia. it is the only copy extant of those laws . . . ”

To this Hening replied on the 15th: “. . . I have such a strong impression that the thin M.S. marked A. was put up between the two thin boards, sent up, that I cannot help thinking it may yet be found there.--I have made very diligent search among my books and papers, and have not been able to find it . . . I will make another effort to find the thin M.S. marked A. . . .”

Jefferson wrote on the 25th: “ Your favor of the 15 ^th. never came to hand till yesterday. you may be assured that the MS. A. is not here. every book in the library has past twice thro’ my own hands, and twice more thro’ the hands of the numberer and packer, and we are all confident this is not among them. it is exactly the one described in the 1 ^st. vol. of your statutes pa. 121 . . . ”

More than five years later, on September 1, 1820, Jefferson sent the manuscript to George Watterston, the Librarian of Congress: “ . . . I send you herewith a thin MS. vol. marked A. being the 1 ^st. vol. of the MS. laws of Virginia, belonging to your library. you will find it entered in the catalogue of 1815. pa. 73. N ^o. 191. it was one of those I had lent to m ( ^~ r) Hening, who has printed it’s contents in his 1 ^st. vol. of the Statutes at large pa. 122 &c and I never doubted it had been returned to you & was in the library. how it happened otherwise how it got into the hands of a private gentleman in W ^ms.burg and from his into those of a gentleman in of [sic] the Western states, is to me unknown. but this last gentleman, seeing the endorsement in my hand writing, judging thence it might be mine, & having occasion to pass thro’ this neighborhood lately, brought it with him and returned it to me. I am happy that chances so favorable and extraordinary have enabled me to place it in its proper home. m ( ^~ r) Hening informs me he has returned you the vol. D. of the same collection . . .”

At the same time, on September 3, he sent to Hening an account of the facts: “ . . . For your satisfaction I will mention that in my letter to you of Apr. 8. 15. I stated that you had not returned me the MS. laws of 1623/4. marked A. and I add with pleasure that it is now retrieved, after the strangest circuit possible, and unknown, I dare say, to yourself. in 1810, it seems, Col ^o. Croghan found it in ”